"Looking Good, Padres." "Feeling Good, Ryan."

That was the hypothetical conversation I had last night with the Padres. It's based on the famous last line of dialogue from Trading Places ("Looking good, Billy Ray!" "Feeling good, Clarence."). I thought those words were apropos considering the Padres solid start to the season.

Indeed, after the first four games of the 2011 season, the Padres sit at 3-1, highlighted by yesterday's win in the home opener against the San Francisco Giants (with honorable mention to Chase's 4 ribeye game Saturday in St. Louis - pictured above). Aaron Harang overcame some early wildness to shut down the Gints over six innings, paving the way for worry-free relief work from Luke, Mike, and Heath.

The only downside was that I couldn't be there in person to watch Trevor throw out the first pitch. What a moment.

Checking In With Trevor

Trevor Hoffman is one of the great closers, let alone one of the great Padres, of all time. He holds the record for most saves in Major League history and is two saves away from being the first man in history to record 600 saves. His changeup is the stuff of legends. And by all accounts he is a great family man.

For all those reasons, anyone who knows anything about baseball has great respect for Trevor Hoffman.

But there is one area of Trevor's life where he just doesn't get the due he deserves.

Male modeling.

Trevor might not be A-Rod or David Wright, but for a guy who has spent his career plying his trade in small-markets, he has a remarkable record of (un)intentionally hilarious, homoerotic, yet beastly photos.

But don't take my word for it. Let's look at the evidence

* * *

I like the intensity here. With that look, you think a guy's going to deal you some 95 mph heat. But nope. Here comes a sneaky 84 mph change.

Oh Trevor. So playful.

The over-the-shoulder glance back is a tricky move and not one to try lightly. Of course, Trevor nails it here.

This is either a photo from pre-game warmup, or a still from the failed Baywatch: San Diego pilot.

Jaysus. Gym much?


And last, but not least, no montage of Trevor photos would be complete without showing one of the great photos ever taken of any athlete. In any sport. From any era. You've seen it before, but it never gets it old.

See you this weekend in Milwaukee, Trevor. Here's hoping you don't reach 600 saves against the Padres.

A Padres Game I Attended: D'Backs at Padres, April 29, 2005

You know those games where you have a feeling how its going to play out? Where your instincts give you a sense of what will happen? Almost like a Spidey-sense letting you see things happen before they do, in fact, happen?

This game in April '05 was one of those games.

I was in L.A. for work during the day and, instead of staying in L.A. for the night or flying on the redeye back to New York, I decided to drive down to the Diego for the ballgame.

Good thing I did. First of all, it was a Peavy v. B. Webb ballgame and the Peav did not disappoint. He threw 8 innings, K'd 7 and left the game with a 4-3 lead. It's kind of sad to think there won't be any more games from Peavy like that - at least not in a Padres uniform - and I'm grateful for every chance I got to see him throw as a Friar.

And second, there was a feeling, at least in my mind, that the Padres just weren't going to lose. Even when Tony Clark lined a game-tying double down the first base line off Trevor with two outs in the ninth - a moment I could also feel was coming - I knew the Padres would win. And as inning after inning went by, I remained optimistic; an optimism that was rewarded when Phil Nevin singled home Xavier Nady with the running run in the bottom of the 15th.

By that point of the game I was one of maybe 5,000 fans still left in the ballpark and was sitting about five rows back behind the Padres dugout.

So choice.

Zach Herr ... And Other Top Padres Minor Leaguers

After the first month or so of the season, here is this humble blog's ranking of the top Padre minor league performers. Yesterday, we ranked the top hitters. Today, we rank the pitchers.

Looking over the list, I'll make a few introductory comments:

1. I'm not a huge fan of the Padres pitching prospects. The big problem is that the guys who were supposed to be the marquee guys - Cesar Carrillo, Nick Schmidt, Cesar Ramos - have succumbed to injury and/or are maxing out at AAA. Lower down the ladder there is intrigue with the likes of Mat Latos and Adys Portillo, but that's more a conversation about the 2012 Padres than anything else. I'd love for Simon Castro to join that group. I really would.

2. Are the Padres ever going to recover from losing Joakim Soria in the Rule V Draft? That was an absolute dagger to the organization. Along with the John Moores divorce and the Khalil Greene regression, nothing has hurt the Padres more than their bullpen failures last season and early this season. You need three solid/stud relievers to win in this league. A Padre bullpen with Soria, Bell and Hoffman (they could have paid him sans divorce) would be better than the current Meredith, Sanchez, Bell situation. Though that is no fault of Heath's. What a monster.

3. Greg Burke should be pitching for the Drinos any minute now. After another bullpen meltdown last night (3 walks Edwin? Really?) the Drinos need to try something new. Burke has earned a shot. (Incidentally, so have his Portland teammates Scott Patterson and Joe Thatcher. Look for a Drino bullpen shakeup in the next few weeks.)

Without further ado ...

1. Zach Herr, LHP, Fort Wayne: Coming out of the bullpen for the TinCaps, Herr has been perfect this season. He is 2-0 with a .45 WHIP and a, wait for it, 0.00 ERA. Add to that his 18 Ks in 11 innings (and 4 holds) and you see why I put a relief pitcher at the top of these rankings. These stats don't even include another perfect inning he threw last night, a little 1-2-3 work in the bottom of the 8th to help preserve the TinCaps 8-7 win. Nice work, Zach.

2. Corey Kluber, RHP, Lake Elsinore: Corey is off to a 3-1 start with a 2.51 ERA, a .94 WHIP and 25 Ks in 28.2 innings pitched. Not bad for another guy almost no national scouting service ever mentions as a legitimate prospect, and who BA dropped out of their top 30 Drino prospects this year. He was a fourth round draft pick in the pivotal 2007 Drino draft (where the Padres had 11 picks in the first four rounds) and is looking to turn a few heads and raise a few eyebrows this year.

3. Greg Burke, RHP, Portland: The Drinos AAA closer, Burke, as I noted above, is due for a call up. I'm ready to see what he's got and I figure the Drinos have nothing to lose. Is he really going to be any worse than Sanchez, Perdomo, Gregerson or Mujica? If he throws strikes I don't see how he could be. Burke is currently sitting at 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA and a .92 WHIP. He's K'd 13 in 12 innings and has 5 saves.

4. Anthony Bass, RHP, Fort Wayne: The Padres 5th round pick last June, Anthony is a sleeper out of Wayne State. He pitched well at short-season Eugene last summer and is continuing that success so far this season. He is 2-2 with a 2.19 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP, and has K'd 20 in 24 innings. I'd like to see the WHIP a bit lower and the Ks a bit higher but I could really say that about any pitcher. Just based on looking at his stats, Anthony seems to know how to pitch. That alone should carry him up to at least AA.

5. Jeremy McBryde, RHP, Lake Elsinore: Arguably Jeremy could have been ranked at the top of the list. His stuff is perhaps better than most guys in the Padre system not named Peavy, Young, Bell, Portillo or Latos. That said, he seems to be a bit hittable (yes, I know he threw a 6-inning, 8 K gem last night, yielding only 2 runs, but hear me out). He is sporting a 3.86 ERA so far which, if my math is correct, is getting close to 4.00. His WHIP is a stellar .79 and he has K'd 20 in 14 innings (remember, this doesn't include last night), but I don't like that ERA. If he continues to lower the number of runs he gives up, I'll be happy to move him up the list.

6. Evan Scribner, RHP, San Antonio: Evan was a nice snake last year in the deal that sent Tony Clark back to the D-slacks. On the season he is 0-1 with a 2.53 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP out of the bullben for the Missions. He's also K'd 14 in his 10.2 innings, and racked up 4 saves. Evan should compete for a Drino bullpen slot in 2010, if he doesn't snake an audition with the big club later this season.

7. Nathan Culp, LHP, San Antonio: Until last night, Nathan was having a strong season. He was 1-1 with a 2.91 ERA and 1.06 WHIP pitching for the AA Missions. One concern was his only 11 Ks in 21.2 innings, and that may have exposed him a bit lat night. Nathan is not much of a prospect but his status as a lefty will earn him some looks this year and next. Especially if he can keep that WHIP in the low 1s.

Okay, so that's the list. Let's hope May is a dominant month up and down the system.

I'm pretty sure it will be.

Courting Hoffman

Reports in the media are that a certain NL Central team is courting everyone's favorite future HOF closer.

Yeah, that's right, this guy:

The thought of Trev in another uni makes me want to drop a deuce on Alderson's carpet. At the same time, Trev isn't the pitcher he once was and baseball is, after all, about winning. It's also a business and maybe the Padres just can't afford Hoffman. Whatever the reason, I guarantee Trevor gets stoked if he ever pitches against the Drinos.

I remember September 2003. I was in the Diego for a few days and my Dad and I went to Qualcomm for a game, I think one of the final 12 or so at the Q. Don't remember much about the game, I could look it up on baseball-reference.com if I was so inclined, but I do remember that the Drinos brought in Trevor for a non-save situation. He hadn't pitched all season after undergoing shoulder surgery (nice fill in work by Rod Beck). He looked good and I remember feeling good about the fact that the '04 Padres, sporting new digs at Petco Park, would have Brian Giles in RF and a healthy Trevor Hoffman closing out games. Those were good days.

Look, Trevor isn't officially gone. But now that day feels real close.

When The Games Are Done

Careful, kid. Now that the Phillies finished off the Rays last night in dramatic, three-inning fashion, that stove you're about to touch just got hot.

Figuratively speaking, of course.

The League has a ton of big stories this off-season (CC, A.J., Manny, to name just three) but no team sits more at a turning point than the San Diego Padrinos. Will they trade Peavy? Will they re-sign Trevor Hoffman? Will they pick up Brian Giles' option? Will John and Becky Moores cut Petco Park in half forcing the team to play its home games back at the Q? These are all critical questions that will determine the core of the Padres team next year.

With Peavy, Giles and Hoffman they will have, if some of the younger guys make progress, Chris Young regains his 2006-2007 form and the bullpen becomes (once again) a strength, a competitive team. Without those three guys they are looking at 2011 or later for their next winning season. I don't know about you but that's a long time to wait. If would feel like the beginning of this decade all over again. And that was no fun. Might as well sign Klesko and Nevin and see if Bubba Trammell is available.

So here's to hoping the Drinos make some good decisions, and if they do decide to part ways with Peavy, Giles and Trevor, that they make the right moves on the back end to get this team winning again before the 20-teens.